Gandhi's economics of peace

Abstract

Is there any such thing as “Gandhian economics?” Gandhi did say many things about production, distribution, consumption and other economic matters, but do they comprise an “economics?” Certainly Gandhian economics is not scientific in the sense of Keynesian or Marxian economics. Moreover, Gandhi regarded himself less as an intellectual and more as a man of action: his original thinking seems to have been more moral and political than economic. But these concessions do not preclude a Gandhian economics. To the contrary, Gandhi's economic observations must be taken seriously because, unlike most so‐called “development economists,” he had a truly intimate knowledge of the masses, in India and elsewhere.